Chapter 740: The Future of the Blizzard Beast

After lunch, Liszt began inspecting his territory.

His first stop was the thorn plantation. After a quick scan, he easily spotted a thorn bush already nurturing a spirit bug—a fast-growing toxic variety. Any type of Thorn Bug could cultivate magical herbs.

He ordered the insect guardians to protect the budding Thorn Bug.

Liszt abruptly lost interest in continuing the inspection. News of his becoming a dragonrider had spread like wildfire across the island.

Wherever he went, swarms of serfs slacked off, stealing glances at him.

The officials, like hounds on a scent, scrambled for excuses to approach Liszt, even if only to catch a glimpse of the great dragonrider Lord from afar.

This frenzy wouldn’t die down soon—the title of dragonrider was simply too awe-inspiring. Everyone had grown up hearing tales of dragonriders. Even the lowliest serfs had once dreamed of it. In all knightly tales, ninety-nine percent of protagonists rode dragons.

If they couldn’t ride a dragon, they at least had to slay one.

“Irritating.”

Liszt rode his landstrider Loki back to Thorn Fort, reaching the castle shortly after.

With no pressing matters, he decided to train the Blizzard Beasts for a bit.

In peacetime, the Blizzard Beasts were basically walking rock quarries. Daily, squire knights led them to a stone plaza to burn off their excess energy by hurling magic around.

Hiddleston had matured, no longer bounding over like a pup, now carrying the dignity of an intermediate magical beast. But his wagging tail gave him away. The eight younger ones lined up behind him, maintaining strict battlefield discipline.

Trained by Liszt, the Blizzard Beasts moved like a wolf pack.

“Hiddleston, rock spikes!”

Liszt casually pointed, and Hiddleston swiftly opened his mouth. A huge rock spike shot up from the targeted spot. Their teamwork was seamless, but Liszt sighed: “Shame my battles aren’t about knightly charges or sieges anymore. With me, you won’t get to shine.”

Thinking this, he turned to the squire knight behind him and ordered, “Go fetch Emily.”

“Yes, my Lord!”

The twelve-year-old arrived promptly, her leather armor nearly worn through, her mana already quite abundant, her skin tanned a healthy wheat color. Though her figure hadn’t fully developed, her tall stature still exuded a heroic aura. Her delicate, exotic features held a unique charm.

“My Lord!”

“How’s your training lately?”

“My mana’s growth has slowed. Compared to the speed of training on the battlefield, peacetime practice is just too inefficient.” Emily’s face was full of urgency.

The Lord she idolized and emulated had become a dragonrider, while she was still just an elite Earth Knight. The gap felt ever wider, the pressure ever heavier—completely forgetting she was only a twelve-year-old girl who had trained for just a year and a half. Her current achievements were enough to stand out across the entire Sapphire Isle, even the mainland kingdoms.

“Don’t always obsess over rapid improvement. Work and rest in balance—that’s the best way to grow.”

“Emily understood, but—”

“Stop, stop.” Liszt raised his hand to cut her off. It was always the same—worries about her cycle interfering with training.

A girl her age constantly mentioning her cycle was… awkward.

However, looking at the girl's stubborn expression, he still admired her greatly. If he had worked as hard as she did, perhaps he could have already created *The Fire Dragon Knight’s Dragon Aura Manual*.

Suddenly,

he thought of the Lightgreen Gem Dragon.

He only had one backside and couldn’t ride two dragons at once. As for Emily before him, her loyalty was unquestionable, and her talent had even been blessed by the fateful power of the mist—perhaps she could be of great use. The kingdom had a dragon knight candidate program, and suddenly, he wanted to create such a plan too.

Of course.

Emily was female, and this world had never heard of a female dragon knight before. Whether she was worth the investment depended on the risks involved.

Besides, women were expected to marry eventually…

These random thoughts were quickly suppressed by Liszt. After some consideration, he took out from his spatial ring a palm-sized purple crystalline tortoiseshell: “Take this tortoiseshell. It was taken from the dragon knight Karl von Violet. Wearing it will boost your lightning-attribute mana growth.”

Taking the tortoiseshell,

despite her usual pretense of coldness and maturity, Emily shivered with excitement upon sensing the surging lightning-attribute magic power within: “Your Highness, Emily… Emily…” Suddenly tears welled up in her eyes, choking back sobs. This was a personal item of a dragon knight!

Liszt said calmly, “If you find it valuable, make good use of it. Grow stronger swiftly and fight on my behalf.”

“Yes, Your Highness! Emily belongs entirely to Your Highness, swearing undying loyalty, always ready to charge into battle for Your Highness!” Emily could only repeat her oath to express her gratitude.

“With the tortoiseshell and ample supply of potions, your mana won’t stagnate, so there’s no need to train recklessly every day. I’m assigning you a new task—dedicate two hours daily to help me train the Hiddleston (the beast) squad. In future battlefield charges, they will be under your command.”

Emily solemnly replied, “As you wish, Your Highness!”

“Starting tomorrow, arrive at Thorn Fort punctually at nine in the morning. I will personally teach you how to train the Hiddleston.”

“Yes!”

“Dismissed.”

Emily bowed respectfully and left Thorn Fort.

Liszt sighed. Hiddleston had been a crucial ally in his rise—without its siege-breaking prowess, his rapid development wouldn’t have been possible. But now, the Hiddleston could no longer keep up. Keeping them as pets would be a waste of their abilities—they were magical beasts, not ordinary dogs.

Handing their training to Emily might be the best choice.

…

Something else happened in the afternoon.

The two captive sky knights, Garcia and Fox, asked to see Liszt.

“What brings you two here?” Liszt felt a little exasperated toward them. Alonso had been so confident in conquering Sapphire that he never discussed ransom.

But after the crushing defeat, he fled without a trace, leaving their ransom hopes dashed.

“Your Highness, Alonso has long failed to pay our ransom. With your victory in the dragon-slaying battle, our ransom seems unlikely… We can no longer wait. Without potion supplies, our mana cultivation will regress completely,” Garcia said with a grim expression.

Fox added, “So after careful consideration, we wish to swear loyalty to you, charging into battle for Your Highness from now on!”

Both were orphans who had yet to earn many merits, so they held no titles and remained unmarried, always hoping to earn glory under Alonso’s banner.

But the Dragon-Trapping Mountain battle left them as captives, not only without achievements but also deprived of training supplies.

The stronger a knight became, the more reliant they were on potions. After over two months of confinement on Black Horse Island, Liszt naturally hadn’t supplied them with potions. If this continued, their mana would degrade, possibly even dropping to Earth Knight level—making regaining their sky knight rank next to impossible.

It meant their future was completely ruined.

With their cultivation collapsing and their prospects cut off, and their lord still delaying payment of the ransom, the two could no longer sustain their loyalty to Alonso—even if they suspected he might have planned to rescue them after the dragon-slaying battle and skip the ransom altogether.

Still, it stung.

At the very least, Alonso could’ve sent a letter to check in on them, instead of leaving them completely ignored.

Now that Alonso had lost the dragon-slaying battle while Liszt was gaining power, their mindset naturally shifted, and they readily pledged allegiance to him.

After a moment’s thought, Liszt nodded: “Swear your loyalty.”